Lady Wildcats start season with a busy two weeks

Livingston Academy Lady Wildcats Varsity Softball Team is off to a full start of two weeks with five away games and one home game.

In the game against Clay County on Monday, March 4, sophomore Jozie Allen had four hits in four at-bats. Allen tripled in the first inning, doubled in the third, and singled in the fifth.

The Lady Cats started the scoring in the first after sophomore Bailey Hutchison singled, scoring one run. Sophomore Calla Pierce notched the win and pitched the full game. LA won 4-2.

The game against Jackson County scheduled for Tuesday, March 12, was postponed to Wednesday, April 10.

LA took a tough loss against Gordonsville with a score of 1-7 on Saturday, March 16, but Head Coach Kacy Bennett was full of insight into what the team needs to work on.

“We lost the game, but put in great effort,” Coach Bennett said. “Our defense is doing almost everything right, with a few errors here and there. The errors are to be expected early in the season. Our hitters have not quite caught up with their potential. It’s a work in progress and we have continued to improve with each game.”

On Monday, March 18, the Lady Cats lost 11-1 against Cookeville amidst wintry conditions. Coach Bennett stated that the team is still getting in the groove, doing a lot better in the box.

“We still need to tweak our approach to hunt out the pitch we want to hit instead of swinging at what the other team wants us to,” Bennett said.

Bennett also said that the defense is working hard, but still has too many walks and errors that need to be cleaned up.

“It was a very cold and windy night for us, but it was good for the girls to be on the field. Each game will make us better,” Coach Bennett said.

The following day took the team to White County, where Hutchison hit her first home run of the season, and the team showed decent improvement despite another loss of 7 to 4.

“It was our best hitting game of the season... Decent improvement and (we) look to continue that improvement,” Coach Bennett said.

At the match against Cumberland County High School on Thursday, March 21, the Lady Cats accrued 18 hits in the game. Jozie Allen and Kendall Simpson each collected three hits. Calla Pierce, Tatum Pendergrass, and Megan Estell each collected multiple hits. Pendergrass also stole three bases. The Lady Cats stole six in the game. The team won the game 25 to 4. The mercy rule was applied and the game lasted four innings.

Rounding up the two weeks of play on Saturday, March 23, at the Southern Warrior Classic in Murfreesboro, the team won two of three games.

The Lady Cats had to leave Livingston at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday for their first game at 8 a.m. where they went on to defeat teams from Milan, IN, and Canton, IL.

“Everyone hit the ball really hard with multiple hits per game. Our pitchers did a really good job,” Coach Bennett said. “I’m very proud of them.”

The team heads into this week with a game scheduled at Upperman today, Tuesday, March 26, and their second home game Thursday, March 28, at 5 p.m against Stone Memorial.